UP | uncultured project

“This maybe the day that I finally pay it forward” I said to a group of students just minutes ago. I’m writing this at a desk inside the American International School in Dhaka. I was invited to talk to the students here and, after a very long day, I just finished talking to over 200 students in both classroom and large auditorium settings. The photo above is a one I took after spending about an hour and half talking to a group of high school science students about my work and the work of Dr. Jeffrey Sachs.

It is a strange reversal of roles. It wasn’t long ago that I was a student listening to a man passionate about ending poverty. That man was Dr. Jeffrey Sachs and I was then a grad student at Notre Dame. Fast forward nearly two years – and over 8,000 miles away – and here I am (a passionate guy about ending poverty) talking to a group of students. I got to talk to middle school and high school students of virtually every race, ethnicity, religion, and nationality. It doesn’t get more amazing than that.

It was also the first time in my life I got recognized off YouTube by a stranger. One of the students in the first class I was speaking to asked me if I make videos on YouTube (I was so nervous with my first talk that I entirely forgot to mention that my work involves YouTube). Apparently, this student had searched for Bangladesh on YouTube before his family moved here and found my Christmas Day video. It was surreal. What was even more surreal was how amazed some of the teachers are about my work.

“He’s the only one in the world that’s doing something like this right now!” exclaimed High School Science Teacher Rick Davis to his students. Hopefully, whether it’s by a someone inspired here at AIS Dhaka or somewhere else in the world, I won’t be long before I am not the only one doing a project like this.

(And if anybody at AIS is reading this – why not add me as a friend on facebook?)

Did you know that one day’s worth of Pentagon spending ($1.5 Billion US Dollars) would be enough to protect every man, woman, and child in Africa from malaria for five years? Don’t take my word for it – Dr. Jeffrey Sachs was the one who did the math on that. We can create a world free from malaria. It is never been easier to achieve and the need has never been more pressing.

In this latest episode I go into further detail about some of the mosquito nets I distributed in episode one. I also show excerpts of my interview with a Catholic Priest who got infected with malaria 38 times (twice of which was cerebral malaria). This is the same footage I was trying to mail out of the country for use by an advocacy organization based in Switzerland. Incidentally, I was finally able to send that footage to Switzerland afterall. I was able to give the tape to one of my uncles who was flying to Singapore. He then mailed it to Switzerland from there. Take that evil Draconian export laws of Bangladesh!

I also go into more detail about the PermaNets donated to me by Vestergaard-Frandsen. I’ve talked about PermaNets before and I can’t recommend them enough. These nets do work. The PermaNet over my bed has scrapped up against splinters and nails – but it hasn’t ripped. These nets are also treated with a long-lasting insecticide which is harmless to humans but kill mosquitos when they come into contact with the net. The reason the insecticide is long-lasting is because it is manufactured into the net in a way that won’t wash away. Rather, it will stay at an effective concentration level for years.

This World Malaria Day why not consider donating a PermaNet? You don’t even need to give me a dime to do so. Just check the recommended charities section of this site for a list of charities that distirbute PermaNets. And, as always, I was not paid or required to endorse any of the companies that I talk about (including Vestergaard-Frandsen).

… or at least the internet connection here.

Earlier today, I finished making a new YouTube episode to mark World Malaria Day. I started uploading the 112 meg file at 8 am at the YouTube upload page. By 2 pm I had uploaded 105 megs… and then the internet connection died. Back to square one.

I was telling some friends that it takes a mastery of Zen-like patience to watch a video on YouTube. The connection is so bad and so slow you can never watch a video here in real-time or in one attempt. Having the patience to upload a video YouTube from Bangladesh takes more than Zen-like patience. It’s an exercise in self-flagellation.

I’m sorry – I don’t care how long I’ve been in Bangladesh – explosions still scare the crap out of me. Whether it’s driving by a transformer as it explodes and showers the car I’m in with sparks or whether it’s hearing the sound of what seems like a bomb (only to find it’s a blown transformer) – explosions are scary. Clearly, life in the military is not for me.

But, more importantly, it’s a sign that things are getting bad here. Back just before Christmas, there was a strain on the water supply. Long outages without water were common. Previously on this blog, I wrote about how I had to time when I could shower or flush the toilet. It now seems to be that electricity will be the latest item to face severe scarcity.

The frequency of power outages – and the duration the outages last – has only increased since the arrival of summer heat (it’s summer already? what??). It used to be once every few days. Then it was once a day. Now, it’s not uncommon for the power to cut out three… four… or more times a day. The latest outage that happened just before I started this blog post came with a big boom – the sound of a transformer blowing up just down the street.

Clearly the system is strained – the demand for air conditioning is probably a big factor. I even bought a back-up UPS to handle the prolonged outages. The UPS isn’t anything fancy – just whatever I could find that was cheap and could last for as long as possible. It’s a no-name brand of questionable quality. I can only hope and pray that the next time I hear an explosion – it’s won’t be the UPS sitting next to me.

There have been so many times where I’ve wanted to incorporate video from Google Earth in my videos. That way I could illustrate exactly where I was filming. Unfortunately, Google makes that next to impossible for someone on my budget. The cheapest version of Google Earth that lets you export video costs a whopping $400. And they don’t do student discounts…. ever.

I’ve spent the good part of the day today trying to find an alternative solution. There is a 7-day trial of Google Earth Pro, but if you use the trial, any video you make has a big “trial version” slapped in the center of the video. I’ve also tried using screen capture software so that I could record something using the free version of Google Earth. Unfortunately, anything recorded that way is way too choppy to be usable in a video.

And with the latest version of Google Earth – I’m all the more tempted. It’s all put together so beautifully – it’s like you are up there flying around in the space shuttle. Oh Google… why do you price things out of my league and make it so tempting? *sobs*

A year’s worth of textbooks for a Grade Nine student studying in rural Bangladesh cost over 900 taka. Many can’t afford it – and many drop out. In fact, of all the children that enroll in school, only 54% of them are still in school by the age of ten. Individual poverty is a big factor as is the lack of infrastructure and general lack of access to education.

During my latest trip to Tangail District, I got to meet Mohammed Hossain – a Grade Nine student who didn’t have the 900 taka necessary to buy his books for the year. Fortunately, 900 taka is just 13 bucks. And, having liquidated my savings for my Xbox 360, there was more than enough money to buy all the books for him. To show his thanks, after he got his books, he sang a couple of songs for my grandmother and I.

The desk he is examining the books on is the same desk I talked about in this post. We painted it to make it waterproof before donating (thus the paint brush on the table).

There are a couple of more photos on my page on Flickr.

[Updated] In the first 72 hours of officially starting PayPal donations, there have been over 152 separate donations totally over $3,400. Wow.

Let me put it this way. More money has been raised in just the past 72 hours than I have directly spent on helping others during my entire project to date. If our political leaders were as conscious and considerate about third world poverty as those who read this blog than global poverty would have ended ages ago.

This experience has also shown me just how hard it is to make sure every dollar reaches those in need. Even though I have yet to touch a single penny that has been donated, PayPal has already taken 3.2%. [Update June 12th, 2008 - PayPal charges a variable service charge. For large donations, the percentage seems to be around 3.2%. But, for smaller donations such as $1, the service charge is over 30%] That means of the $3623.30 donated within the first 72 hours – PayPal already scooped up $156.49 for themselves.

Assuming I withdraw this money the same way I have been withdrawing donations from my family (through the local ATMs) there will be a 1% currency conversion fee for every dollar I withdraw. So that means – before any money gets to help anyone – between the banks and PayPal – over $190 never reaches it’s destination.

This is part of the reason I was suggesting everyone seriously consider donating to one of my recommended charities. Many of them use their tax exempt status to negotiate better rates with online donation services and banks. Although, even these charirties have to pay some fees – and some of their money goes to PR and paying their staff.

I’m starting to wonder just how much of “a cup of coffee a day” actually reaches the final destination…